Leave the private, tree-lined entry to Park Highlands and head down Foothill Road, and eventually you land at a turn a lot of foothill residents already know by muscle memory: north on San Roque Road, past the last stretch of ranch fencing, to the Cater Water Treatment Plant and the reservoir beside it. The trailhead sign for Jesusita Trail sits just past the filtration plant, about half a mile up from Foothill Road. For a lot of people in the foothill enclaves above San Roque, this is the closest thing to a backyard trail there is.
For a stretch of last fall, though, the loop that starts here stopped being a loop. It became an out-and-back, and the reason had nothing to do with weather or wildlife and everything to do with a utility company's cleanup crew working a few miles east.
What Actually Closed, and For How Long
The disruption traced back to 2019, when Southern California Edison crews doing unauthorized road grading and vegetation work sent debris into Mission Creek and its tributaries, damaging the creek bed and surrounding habitat. The fix, branded the Mission Canyon Stream Restoration Project, eventually required a full closure of Lower Tunnel Trail starting September 8, 2025, with SCE projecting up to three or four months of work. Lower Tunnel Trail is the piece that lets hikers coming up Jesusita drop back down into Mission Canyon instead of retracing their steps, so a closure there doesn't just block one trail. It collapses the loop into a there-and-back.
What stayed open the entire time were Jesusita and Rattlesnake Canyon, the two trails most directly reachable from the San Roque and Foothill Road corridor. Crews finished the work early, and Lower Tunnel Trail reopened in early October, ahead of the original schedule, according to both Noozhawk and edhat. SCE has said the completed phase should not require further closures on that particular stretch.
So as of right now, the classic version of this hike is back: up Jesusita through San Roque Canyon, across the ridge to Inspiration Point, down Tunnel Trail into Mission Canyon, no doubling back required.
What's Still Closed
There's a second closure that has nothing to do with the SCE project, and it's easy to miss if you're relying on an old trail writeup. The Forest Service's most recently posted update for Tunnel Trail notes that the backside segment, running from East Camino Cielo out to Matias Potrero, remains closed due to storm damage. That's a different piece of trail entirely, well past Inspiration Point, on the far side of the ridge toward La Cumbre Peak.
For a resident planning a Saturday hike, the practical read is straightforward:
- Jesusita Trail from San Roque Road to Inspiration Point: open
- Lower Tunnel Trail, connecting Inspiration Point down to Mission Canyon Road: reopened, no further closures expected from the completed restoration work
- The high, back-of-the-ridge stretch of Tunnel Trail toward Camino Cielo and Matias Potrero: still closed for storm damage as of the Forest Service's latest posting
If your plan stops at Inspiration Point and loops down through Mission Canyon, nothing stands in your way. If you were hoping to extend the day out along the ridge toward La Cumbre Peak, that segment isn't back yet.
The Reservoir Nobody Photographs
Every writeup of this hike fixates on the summit, and fair enough. Inspiration Point sits at 1,800 feet with a clear look at the city, the ocean, and the Channel Islands on a good day. But the reservoir sitting right at the trailhead gets skipped entirely, and it shouldn't.
Lauro Canyon Reservoir, the small body of water beside the Cater plant where the trail begins, is logged as an eBird hotspot with 105 species recorded there. That's not a number tucked into a hiking blog. It's a working birding location that draws its own visitors independent of anyone climbing to Inspiration Point. If you're walking a dog before work or bringing a kid who has no interest in a seven-mile round trip, the reservoir itself is a legitimate stop, not just a parking landmark on the way to something better.
What This Means If You're Walking It This Week
The round trip to Inspiration Point and back runs close to seven miles with roughly 1,500 feet of climbing, which puts it solidly in half-day territory rather than a lunchtime loop. The lower two miles follow Jesusita Creek through oak and riparian growth, but by late September the creek is typically running low or dry outside the rainy season, so don't plan the hike around water features this time of year. Shade holds up better than water does.
A section of the route crosses private property before the final climb, and the Forest Service is direct about it: stay on the marked path. Dogs are welcome but the leash requirement is specific, not longer than six feet, under federal regulation for this stretch of Los Padres National Forest. Parking is roadside near the trailhead rather than a formal lot, so arriving early matters more on weekends than it does on a Tuesday.
For anyone who wants a quieter version of the summit view, there's a short spur near the top called Historic Inspiration Point. It adds about 0.4 miles round trip and trades some of the crowd at the main overlook for a similar view to the southeast, without the foot traffic that builds up at the marked point on a clear weekend.
None of this changes the basic character of the hike that's been drawing people up San Roque Road for years. What's changed is which parts of it you can string together on a given weekend, and that's worth knowing before you park at the reservoir expecting a full loop and end up walking the same two miles twice.
If you're weighing a move into the Park Highlands or San Antonio Creek foothills and want a read on what daily life actually looks like here beyond the listing photos, David Magid has spent enough time on these streets and these trails to give you a straight answer.
